Welcome Home
by BrilliantDarkness
Summary: It was a long, hard trip home. Someone is waiting to welcome him. Nothing could be more perfect.


Kid was tired. Dead on his feet and damned near falling out of the saddle tired. It couldn't be helped really. He'd had to go.

He had left early that week. They needed horses. Not many, just two more he thought. He knew of one place where he would pay the fairest price. So toward Rock Creek he rode. He brought gifts to them. Seeing the guys had been nice and the time he spent with them enjoyable. Once on his way home though, he felt an urgency to get back. He barely stopped an only did so enough to rest Katy and the two new horses.

Now he was riding into the yard of his home. His home with her. With her and Willie. It wasn't the life he expected but it was all he could have dreamt of. It was why he had to get home. He couldn't spend one more night away from her, from them. But now he was so tired he could barely move.

He slid off Katy's back and walked deliberately toward the barn with the two new horses in tow. It was growing dark. He imagined that inside their house, little Willie was tucked into his crib, thumb in mouth and hugging tightly to his special blanket. She would be rocking quietly in the front room, her brow furrowed over the mending or maybe some crocheting. Damn, he loved the way she looked when she was thinking on something real hard. Sighing he led the horses into the barn. Exhausted as he was, all he wanted to do was curl up next to her under the quilt Emma had made for them. Having her in his arms was all he could ask for.

What he found in the barn stopped him in his tracks. Josie was there. Of course, he wasn't there to do the chores so she would do them once Willie was asleep. She was working by a lantern hung on a nail just above her head. The light surrounded her like a halo around her body. Her hair was coming out from the bun she had pinned it into. And she was humming. Her voice maybe wouldn't grace opera halls but he found it sweet and pleasing.

He led the horses further into the barn and she heard his approach. She looked up shocked and frightened. He should have called to her. She wasn't expecting him this early. Her fear left quickly as the smile overtook her face.

"Benny!"

She ran to him and reached a hand as if testing if he was real

"I wasn't expecting you home yet," she nearly whispered. It had been lonely without him. The day time wasn't so bad but their bed was so empty without his warm arms to hold her. They'd not been apart since their wedding day.

"I didn't make many stops," he explained, "Couldn't be away from you a minute longer than I had to."

She took Katy's lead so Benny could settle in the other horses. All the while she was seeing to Katy, she could feel his eyes upon her, burning into her. It made her cheeks flush and her heart race. Even after these months together, her could still do that to her. She suspected it would still be that way many years from now. Occasionally she would glance to him and see the desire in his eyes. His lips would curl into a smile that sent a shiver through her with its predatory nature.

When she finished and turned to walk out of Katy's stall, he was there. Looking at her like he hadn't in a little while. Sure, he always wanted her. He told her she was beautiful and his eyes often shone with desire for her. This…this took her back to a different time in a different barn. Her breath caught in her throat. She walked toward him as if pulled by an unseen force and he closed the door to Katy's stall behind her.

"You must be so tired," she said in a breathy voice.

Kid stepped closer to her, close enough to nearly brush against her, close enough to feel the heat radiating from her body.

"No, not tired at all."

"Oh," she squeaked before his lips crashed against hers. It was searing and warmed her to her core. His body was tight to hers and she could feel how badly he wanted her. Her legs nearly gave out but it was okay because his arms were around her. He would never let her fall.

She thought he might carry her into their home but he didn't. Of course, with his tongue roaming her mouth and his hands roaming her body, she almost didn't care what he did. He felt so good against her. Without thinking, she reached down and untucked his shirt and slipped her hands up underneath it to gloss over the contours of his chest she had long ago memorized.

Kid groaned into her mouth when her hands began to work over him. He suddenly needed to be rid of his jacket and broke contact with her mouth long enough to shrug it off and pulled his shirt off over his head while he was at it. He knew he wouldn't need it much longer. His fingers then moved to the buttons on her dress as his mouth went to her graceful neck. It wasn't easy but he finally got enough buttons undone to slide her dress off of her body. He tossed it onto a hay bale.

It surprised him some when he realized she'd been just as busy. He hadn't noticed her unbuckling his belt or unbuttoning his pants but when she reached inside and grabbed him, he noticed that. His eyes rolled back for a moment and then he set to ridding her of the rest of her garments. He needed her and he needed her now.

His fingers traced her breasts, teasing her nipples through her thin chemise before lifting it over her head and allowing his mouth access. He felt her shove his pants down and he deftly toed off his boots and stepped out of his pants without breaking his mouth's contact with her breast. His hand trailed down between her legs and worked into her wet heat through her pantaloons, finding at last the opening there. She whimpered and he smiled. His tongue trailed up her neck toward her ear as his hands worked to undo the draw string on her one remaining garment.

"You like that, do you?" he growled into her ear and then chuckled at the obvious shudder she gave as she weakly nodded.

He lifted her onto the hay bale where her dress was. Her arm looped around his neck while her other hand stroked his length which was already desperate for her. There was no more waiting. She was naked before him and rubbing tight to him. He plunged into her. She gave an audible gasp and then a moan. He adjusted the angle of her hips until he saw her eyes fly open and the flutter closed with the mounting pleasure. That was the spot.

"God, Josie," he moaned near breathless at the overwhelming pleasure of being with her.

She arched her chest toward him and his mouth latched onto what she offered up. His movements in and out of her were slow, deliberate at first. It felt so damned good to be in her again. It felt so good to be in her always. He needed to savor it a bit. He felt her legs wrap around him giving her some leverage to join his thrusts and from there, slow, deliberate and controlled went by the wayside. Their joined movements were frantic, heated, desperate. He could hear her, sounds he hadn't heard since before Willie, sounds she didn't dare make while the baby slept. They were babbling, incoherent and bordering on wonton. His hips bucked harder pushing him deeper into her. Her fingernails raked down his back and that only made him want more of her. To be deeper, to thrust harder, faster.

When she threw her head back and cried out his name, cried out her pleasure, it tipped the scales for him as well. His body stiffened as he thrust himself even deeper within her, again and again as his release flowed from him.

Kid watched Josie fall back against onto the hay bale, chest heaving, smiling up at him. It might have been enough to get him going again if his legs still worked and he suddenly wasn't so tired as to feel like curling up and sleeping right where he was. He leaned heavily on the wall next to them just trying to catch his breath or see straight.

Josie stood and pulled her undergarments on and then collected her dress and his clothes. He followed her as he was. As she said, "Ain't no one around here to see you or care what you're not wearing."

He barely stayed awake long enough for her to feed him something and then he was snug under the quilt with his Josie—his life and his love—safely in his arms.

* * *

**I wrote this a while ago at my dear Myrtle's behest. I wasn't sure if I would ever publish it. I know many still harbor ill thoughts of Josie. I think some still blame her for Lou's death...whatever. Kid loves her...in this particular universe. They are happy and frankly this is hot so I am publishing it. I'd prefer criticism to remain constructive but frankly I don't care anymore.-J**


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